Struggle
by Lord Gamma
Summary: One-Shot. The final thoughts and feelings of Roman Torchwick.


Roman hated her.

It wasn't anger or some transitory rage, but true hatred. The little toy soldiers and tin men of Atlas were cheap and common, a lien a dozen. But people like her? This little _fool_ who acted so righteous and believed herself to be a hero?

They were rare, it took a degree of spirit most people lacked. Remnant was a world built upon cruelty, and it seemed to delight in breaking fools like Red. Showing them the utter folly of _hope_ in a world like this. But that was the real joke there, Red, Ruby, was even more heartless than Roman himself was. She was _worse_.

Roman knew what he was doing was wrong, he knew that he was condemning possibly thousands of people to death by his actions. He understood, and he accepted that he was a monster.

But Red? No, she believed she was the _hero_. That she was in the _right_. It was clear to Roman that she didn't think, not even for a moment, about how things might look from a different point of view. Of his, of the Faunus, of Cinder. No, she was just too damn _heroic_ for that.

Did it even occur to her, Roman wondered as he stalked up to the girl with his cane raised, that she was just as much a killer as he was? All those Faunus she and her little friends had thrown off the train at Mountain Glenn - if they were lucky they would have been smeared on the tracks, dying instantly. The unlucky ones would have found themselves facing off against a horde of Grimm ready to give them a horrific death.

But of course she was the _hero_ , such things probably never even registered to her.

And that was why he hated her. What gave this girl, this _child,_ the right to judge him? Who was she to condemn him? What did she know of suffering? The prissy little princess probably had everything she could ever want handed to her on a silver platter. How _dare_ she condemn him? Who the hell did she think she was? For all her righteousness, she was just as just as filthy and tainted as he was. The only difference was she was too stupid to see it.

But that was okay, because Roman was a generous man. He would _teach_ her. "You've got spirit, Red. But this is the real world!" Beating her was fucking cathartic right now, Melodic Cudgel smacked against her ribs.

"The real world is cold!" Roman snarled as he slammed Melodic Cudgel into her side again, her aura would fade eventually and then the real lesson could begin. "The real world doesn't care about _spirit!"_

The sharp kick to his shin was painful, but not unexpected, so Roman easily caught himself. "You want to be a hero?" He mocked, green eyes alight with seething hatred as the stupid little girl rose to her feet. "Then go ahead and _die_ like every other huntsman in history!"

Melodic Cudgel slammed into her jaw with the smack of Aura on metal, the moron hitting the metal deck once again. And wasn't that just the greatest truth of them all? Every hunter, no matter how powerful, skilled or strong, was doomed to die. The grand betrayal of the Kingdoms: Their greatest heroes, their mighty defenders… were expendable pawns, ready to be thrown away the moment they became inconvenient.

But not him. Not Roman Torchwick. He saw through all the lies and vagaries, he knew it was all a charade. After all was said and done he would leave: find Neo, leave Vale and just… go. Maybe Mistral or Vacuo.

"As for me," Roman sneered at the defiance alight in the idiot's eyes, "I'll do what I do best. Lie, steal, cheat and survive!"

Pain.

From one breath to another the world became dark and agonising. As though nails were pressing into his skin from all sides, his aura burnt away in but a moment and his skin blackened. Roman screamed but no sound betrayed his agony. Indeed, nothing at all escaped him.

The dead couldn't speak, after all.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

 **Right well, my second story so far. Starting to detect a theme I think…**

 **I went for a more raw feeling with this one than I did for Pyrrha, as was fitting of Roman's character I think.**

 **Anyway, please leave a review!**


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